Studio behind FreeSpace, Red Faction and Saints Row series is no more.
After that most recent Saint’s Row game, I can’t say I’m surprised.
It felt like it was designed by Tumblr, sold on an unpopular platform (Epic), left out most of what was good from the previous entries, was attrociously buggy, and had deeply disappointing DLC.
Nobody wanted it and it felt designed by committee.
Like Blizzard, most of the talent that made them great to begin with wasn’t there any more.
Yet another good developer ruined by a shitty “AAA” publisher / holding company.
With nothing to base this on except a timeline, I more got the sense that they lost some key talent when THQ went under.
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RIP Volition. From Decent, Red Faction, Summoner, and Saints Row, they made some really good stuff. Even if the modern Volition is nowhere near the team it might have been, it’s sad to see a studio being closed.
TIL Descent and Saints Row came from the same studio.
Saints Row felt like a desperate bid to save an already dying studio. You could actively feel the budget running out as you played the game.
Not like they did themselves any favours with the direction, but I think even if the game was better or sold better, it would’ve prolonged this at best. You can take the “it’s about family” hit to your reputation when you’re Star Wars, not when you’re a niche GTA competitor.
They lost their touch after Saints Row 2 and Red Faction
Like many people I’m not particularly surprised by this news but it doesn’t make it any less unfortunate.
Good luck to all the people losing their jobs and rip SR2 patch. I just hope we’ll get another good game from one of their series some day.
This is a kick right in the childhood for me. FreeSpace made up a lot of my formative years as a gamer. Despite them pumping out trash games as of late, it doesn’t make it any easier. I guess I’ll do another playthrough of FreeSpace tonight in memory of the good times. Thank you, Volition.
